And some, it seems, examine the worst horrors with notepad in hand, keen to work out how they can achieve the same and get away with it.

So we come to the atrocities of the nation of Israel.

If the people of Gaza, imprisoned behind the apartheid wall imposed by Israel, may be likened to the inmates of a concentration camp – and I think they can…

And if their only defence against the Israel Defence Force thugs who murdered them on Monday was slings and stones – and I think it was…

Then it seems clear that Benjamin Netanyahu has launched a little Holocaust, all of his own, against the Palestinian people.

I know – accusing Israel of behaviour similar to that of Nazi Germany is an anti-Semitic trope. We’re all told we must not do it.

But that implies responsibility on the part of that country – not to emulate the Nazis in any way. It is a responsibility that the current Israeli government has scorned.

Netanyahu and his cronies are attacking Palestinian people purely because of who they are, and the fact that they live on land and occupy property he wants to steal.

A statement is not anti-Semitic if it is factually correct. And it is factually correct that Benjamin Netanyahu and the government of Israel are carrying out the racist, Islamophobic extermination of the Palestinian people.

The massacre of nearly 60 unarmed Palestinians – with more than 2,000 injured – is just the latest item on that agenda.

That it should happen on the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Israel as a nation only amplifies the crime. What happened – did Mr Netanyahu wake up and say to himself, “This is a great day – I think I’ll celebrate by murdering some Arabs”? That is, after all, what he did.

And what response does he receive from the international community and the media? Silence – or unrestrained approval.

It seems the threat of being labelled “anti-Semite” hangs heavily on some. To my colleagues in the mainstream media who don’t have the guts to stand up against brutality, I say: Shame on you. You disgrace us all.

Of course, the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Israel is also the 70th anniversary of the day Palestinians were turfed off land that had previously been theirs. They call it the Nakba, which means “catastrophe”:

Today marks the 70th anniversary of "The Nakba" or "Catastrophe". As we saw yesterday, the Palestinian people still live under a brutal and unjust occupation. We won't be silent. We offer them our full solidarity and support in their struggle for freedom, justice and equality. pic.twitter.com/0PP5TCLibv

Self-governing Palestinian territories like Gaza are entirely reliant on Israel for their water, electricity, telecommunications and other utilities – and the Israeli government has been starving Gaza of all of them. The Israeli government has turned Gaza into a ghetto.

We are told that around 40,000 Gazans have gathered at the fence that separates the territory from Israel. Israeli officials are pushing propaganda that states these people may rush on the fence in protest at their enclosure and effective imprisonment, and Israeli news channels are dutifully reporting that Hamas is using these people – rather than using the more likely explanation that these people are airing legitimate grievances.

In any case, if the Israeli government wants to talk about self-defence, we can always remind its representatives of the moment two months ago when video footage emerged of an Israeli Defence Force sniper shooting a Palestinian civilian dead – for fun.

If you want to know more about the attitude of the Israeli government, consider this hideous hag:

If you’re thinking, “Hang on, Mike, she’s really pretty!” think again. This is Ayelet Shaked, a member of the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament). You may find it bitterly ironic that she is currently Israel’s serving Minister of Justice, considering the fact that she broadcasts vile racism on her Facebook page.

For example, in 2014 she wrote: “Behind every terrorist stand dozens of men and women, without whom he could not engage in terrorism. They are all enemy combatants, and their blood shall be on all their heads. Now this also includes the mothers of the martyrs, who send them to hell with flowers and kisses. They should follow their sons, nothing would be more just. They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.

“They have to die and their houses should be demolished so that they cannot bear any more terrorists.”

Do you think she’s pretty now?

Notice the dehumanisation of Palestinians as “snakes”. The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust has a poster on its website detailing the 10 stages of genocide, one of which is “dehumanisation”. “The Nazis referred to Jews as ‘vermin’,” it states. Those who would accuse others of anti-Semitism would be quick to leap on anybody who made such comparisons today. But they remain happy for Israeli politicians to refer to Palestinians as “snakes”.

At the ceremony to mark the US embassy’s move to Jerusalem, this woman accused Hamas, the Islamist party which rules the Strip, of “sacrificing its people as part of a PR effort”. What, is she trying to pretend Hamas killed an injured all those people? Israeli fingers were on the triggers. It seems clear that it is the Israeli government making the PR effort.

And failing, if there’s any justice in the world. Notice that Ms Shaked’s words fulfil another of the 10 stages of genocide: Denial.

Here’s the reality:

Theresa May needs to summon the Israeli Ambassador. Eight month old baby was killed yesterday due to Israeli tear gas. This is sufficient for the PM to expel the Israeli ambassador. #GazaMassacre#Gaza

Thank goodness Jeremy Corbyn is man enough to call an atrocity out for what it is:

The killing of dozens of unarmed protesters and wounding of many more by Israeli forces in Gaza, on the day President Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, is an outrage that demands not just international condemnation, but action.https://t.co/qUDmcDe2xv

But then, like myself, Mr Corbyn has already been accused by those who tar their enemies with the brush of anti-Semitism. What does he have to lose?

Notice that Theresa May – whose Conservative government sells arms to countries like Israel, in order to help them commit such vile crimes – remains silent. It seems it is up to Mr Corbyn to lead the call for international law and justice.

Doesn't it make you feel proud to be British? Yemeni children blown apart by our bombs, Palestinian children shot through the head by our rifles. https://t.co/fE3D90ReBa

Appallingly, the Jewish Chronicle is reporting that Tory ex-Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb, “chair of the Conservative Friends of Israel group, outlined its support for Israel’s right to defend itself from attempts to breach the Gaza border while accusing Hamas of “manipulating the citizens of Gaza”.

The United States – the country that likes to portray itself as the world’s police service – has blocked a United Nations motion for an investigation into the massacre. Don’t you think that a little suspicious?

When you consider the total number of MPs in Parliament – and what about the Lords? – it’s a pathetically small number. Presumably the others left their spines at home. One of them was Labour’s Grahame Morris:

Unfortunately these efforts have been totally undermined by the – at best – misguided efforts of Labour Friends of Israel (LFI), an organisation set up to support the government of that country, no matter what it does.

In the immediate aftermath of Monday’s massacre, LFI released a statement on Twitter that attempted to put the blame for Palestinians being shot by Israelis entirely on Hamas:

The tweet, blaming the Gazans for their own deaths, has been roundly condemned and has since been deleted – without comment. But the damage to LFI has been done and the Labour Party is being urged to reject the organisation. This may present a problem for MPs and other Labour representatives who are members:

Every member of Labour Friends of Israel should examine their conscience and consider whether they want to be associated with an organisation that can't bring itself to criticise the Israeli government for killing unarmed Palestinian protesters in yesterday's #GazaMassacre. pic.twitter.com/QDL6HOjbjY

I would like to know the opinion of ordinary Israeli citizens about the massacre – and that of Jews around the world.

Are they not as horrified as the rest of us by this outrage committed by the Israeli government?

That is what many of us want to see:

With the possibility of the violence worsening, please don't speak of British-Jews as some kind of alien force that can't be trusted as they're loyal to Netanyahu. British Jews are as British as anybody else and don't deserve to suffer due to the actions of the Israel government

Agreed. I would like to see vocal condemnation of the murderous actions of the Israeli Government from various groups who represent various British-Jews.I'm not demanding it; I'm just hoping they aren't silent. https://t.co/RCFL1rlcLe

Israel’s massacre of unarmed Palestinian protestors is horrific. The international community cannot continue to tolerate these crimes. Solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom.

I await another wave of fake-outraged claims of anti-Semitism against me. Members of the Campaign Against Antisemitism are probably salivating as they type their latest screed.

But, as I said at the start, it isn’t anti-Semitic to point out a blindingly obvious fact.

In fact, let’s see a few more people highlighting the Netanyahu government’s racism, Islamophobia and genocide – starting with the UK government, the ‘Friends of Israel’ movements, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and everybody else who claims to speak for Judaism around the world.

And while we’re about it – what’s holding the tongues of all the reporters at the BBC?

Vox Political needs your help!If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)you can make a one-off donation here:

Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.

1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.

12 thoughts on “Here’s why people are afraid to denounce the genocidal brutality of the Israeli regime”

I have to say that I applaud you for your article.
It appears that only South Africa have acted positively to show their anger at the massacre of Palestinians. Words do nothing. Only action speaks to the Israeli government. All right thinking peoples should demand their country’s withdrawal from Embassies in Israel. The UN should banish Israel as the rogue nation that it has become. Every middle eastern country that is bordered on Israel should build a wall and show them how it feels again to be ghettoised. Maybe once they are forced to look in the mirror, the ordinary Israelites will realise that Netanyahu is Hitler reincarnate and throw him down.

A central issue is the right of return for Palestinians. Once we accept that it is unjust to evict people from their homes, businesses and farms, then we have to accept that those who have been wronged will react. And that they have a right to be allowed to return to reclaim the land they lost. The Israeli government have been active for many years in comparing the situation to imaginary “terrorists” trying to attack British people in their homes, or trying to invade Britain by force , concluding “you wouldn’t allow that, would you?” That is a very persuasive argument IF we blindly accept that Israel is just a normal country, formed in the normal way. But it was formed by forcing others from their homes. So it is not legitimately defending itself.

The actual analogy would be to compare yourself arriving back home and finding burglars sitting in your house, locking the doors and preventing entry. And even insisting that you have no right to return to your own home because they own it now.

I am sure that many Israelis and many Jews of different nationalities are very aware that this kind of cruel dispossession, and worse, was visited on the Jews of Europe by the Nazis and their various collaborators. It is sad to reflect that, to this day, the people who are suffering because of the horrors perpetrated on the European Jews in the 1930’s and 1940’s are not the German, Polish, Ukrainian or French Nazis who were responsible, but the Palestinians, who were thousands of miles away and not involved at all..

Well done Mike. I thoroughly support you and your courageous efforts to instill knowledge and sense.

Worst thing is, israels action is applauded by rightwing fundamentalist Christians in the States and elsewhere as Donald Trumps efforts in declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel is in line with their misguided and evil interpretation of the Scriptures. They believe he is doing God’s work in hastening the End Times and the Rapture.At the end times allegedly there will be wars and rumours of wars, earthly disasters. Then their Christ will return to earth.

That’s why so many Americans believe in and support Trump.Not because they support Israel.as such but because their religion and their bible tells them that this is the path foretold in both the Old Testament and in the Book of Revelation.

As a Jewish person, Israel is wrong to be doing this, it is doing the same thing as the Nazis did to Jews. NOT IN MY NAME will I keep quiet about this they are crimes against humanity, and Israel should be put on trial for this.

I have just received this letter from my (Conservative) Member of Parliament dated 11th May 2018.

“The UK maintains one of the most rigorous and transparent arms export control systems in the world; all applications for licenses to export military and dual use equipment are assessed on a case by case basis, against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. These criteria consider a range of issues, including the existence of a clear risk that exports might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law. The Government will not grant a license if the export fails to meet any of the criteria.”

“All countries, including Israel, have a right to self-defence. The Government has clearly stated that Israel has the right to defend itself against illegal and indiscriminate rocket attacks from Hamas, but in doing so it was vital that all actions were proportionate, in line with international humanitarian law. With that in mind, I know that the Government continues to monitor the situation and retains the power, should it be required, to suspend licenses if the security conditions deteriorate”!

So there it is. “it was ‘vital’ that all actions were ‘proportionate’, in line with international humanitarian law” OR ‘the Government’ (that is continually monitoring the situation) WILL suspend licences as the ‘security conditions deteriorate’!

I’m sure that, in this day and age, it is entirely possible to make a statement of fact and be labelled anti-Semitic, which is why I call on everybody to abandon the concept of anti-Semitism and call it what it is; racism. We have laws against racial discrimination so, why are they not being used? What is the law for, if not to protect citizens? Sadly, I fear that the spectre of so-called anti-Semitism IS being used for unjust ends and nothing to do with the safety, or otherwise of Jews; after all, how many people knowingly know Jews? If we called anit-Semitism racism and dealt with it as such, things would be very different. For a start, those who claim not to be racist would be forced to reexamine their conduct and those who would seek to use anti-Semitism for political, or unjust ends would not be able to, at least, not so easily, or without scrutiny. Jews would have the solidarity and support of every other racially discriminated and marginalised people and maybe, we might actually be able to have a sensible, grown-up discussion about racism and make proper steps towards changing the minds of those who think it justified. I think that we’re a long way from eradicating it but whilst we treat the racially discriminated differently from each other, we will never be in a position to fight racism together and atrocities, such as that described above, will continue unchallenged. Remember, there have been MANY holocausts but how many people know of them? Not all were committed by Nazi Germany. Jews were not the first to endure concentration camps, nor were they alone but who talks about the others? The sooner that we stop treating Jews like a separate people, the sooner we will be able to deal with evil in the world, properly. Many peoples have experienced it and many have committed it. Aye, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it but it helps if that history is known!

The sooner that people are allowed to criticise the Israeli Government and not be accused of being antisemetic, the sooner we will see this whole situation for what it is.

Can we criticise the UK or US Government without being labelled anti-Christian?
Can we criticise the Egyptian,Syrian or Iraqi Governments without being labelled anti-Muslim?
Of course we can, just as the South African Government from experience recognised Apartheid in Israel and called it for what it is – nothing to do with anyone being Jewish.

Even moderate Jewish people are getting fed up with massacres being carried out in their name – this must stop now !

The words “anti Semitic” or “anti Semiticism” are used as a cover for untruthful behaviour. When in a tight corner play the anti Semitic card. It’s about time we stopped being held to ransom by this corruption of the language.

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. This includes scrolling or continued navigation. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.